Thursday night Republican gubernatorial candidate Aimee Winder Newton was holding an online chat with delegates when the meeting was hijacked and overrun with pornographic images and racist content.
Winder Newton and her running mate John Dougall were using the Zoom video conferencing platform when a hacker seized control of the meeting and began showing pornography and racist memes.
“As candidates, we are having to be in a world where everything is changing,” said Winder Newton following the hacked chat. “Having to adapt is part of what is normal this year. When you have something like that happen, you have to be able to adapt and change quickly.”
“It went on like that for about 3 minutes before they pulled the plug,” said one participant who asked not to be named.
UtahPolicy.com was provided a screenshot from the chat (which has been edited).
After a few minutes, Winder Newton and Dougall moved their meeting to her campaign Facebook page.
The Utah Republican and Democratic parties have moved their state conventions online because of the coronavirus pandemic and need for social distancing.
